Ufacture of electric or other conduits



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-She&t l. E E. L. RANSOME.

MANUFACTURE OF ELECTRIC OR OTHER GONDUITS.

Patented INVENTOH (No Model.) 3 SheetsSheet 3.

E. L. RANSOME. MANUFACTURE OF ELECTRIC OR OTHER GONDUITS;

M 0 0 O O Patented Sept. 10 1895;

0 o 0 0 0000 wek NGOOOGOON INVENTOR WITNESSES:

UNITE TA'IES nnnns'r LESLIE nANsoME, or CHICAGO, ILLINoIs.

MANUFACTURE. OF ELECTRIC OR OTHER CONDUlTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 545,976, datedSeptember 10, 1895.

Application filed November 23, 1894:. Serial No. 529,739. (No model.)

To etZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Ennns'r LESLIE RAN- SOME, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in theManufacture of Electric or other Conduits; and I hereby declare that thefollowing is a specification thereof.

The object of my invention is to provide a method and means for makingan assemblage or group of electric or other conduits monolithically; andit consists of a process of manufacture and the machinery wherewith itis performed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a plan with part of thedevices below the driving mechanism omitted to avoid the confusion oflines. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.Fig. 3 is, a front elevation. Figs. 4 and 5 are transverse sections onlines 4 4. and 5 5, respectively, of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a diagram of thegearing for driving cores, the pitch-line of the gears being representedby dotted lines. Fig. 7 is a section of the gearing on line 7 7 of Fig.6. Figs. 8 and 10 are modified forms of the rotating cores. Fig. 9 is aperspective view of a portion of the structure molded by the machine.Fig. 11 is a diagram showing the direction of rotation of the cores inthe molded structure.

The common construction of such an assemblage of conduits is notmonolithic. They are usually built up of short single pieces ofterra-cotta, each piece having one or more conduits runninglongitudinally through it. These pieces are butted end to end, so thateach conduit in each piece forms with its relative conduit in the otherpieces one continuous passage throughout the total length. of thepieces. Often a number of such lengths are aggregated together byplacing the pieces side by side, as well as end to end. This is usuallydone upon a foundation of concrete common to all the pieces, and theyare generally walled in and covered over with concrete also. By makingsuch an assemblage of passages vln situ within one monolithic continuousblock of concrete the advantages are great, both in a saving of cost andin ob= taining a better result. This is so obvious that many attempts toconstitute them thus have been made; but heretofore the difficulty offorming a continuous monolithic block having a number of longitudinalpassages therein closely contiguous to one another has beenunsurmounted. The obstacle has been in the molding of the narrowpartition between the passages; and for economy of cost and space it isdesirable that they should be narrow. It has been found that ordinarycores grouped together and simultaneously drawn forward along the lineof work would often grip between them the material of which the blockwas being made and draw it along instead of leaving it behind. Otherdifficulties in the construction and working of a molding-machineprevent drawing the cores along one by one or in small groups.

In my present invention these diffieulties are overcome by giving toeach of the cores of the molding-machine, in addition to their forwardmovement, a rotary movement and I arrange the driving mechanism for thismovement so that the adjacent core-surfaces shall move in oppositedirections.

The molding-machine is drawn along continuously in the trench in whichthe monolith is to be formed after the usual manner of moldingmonolithic subway structures.

This machine consists of the following principal parts, namely: frame A,the bearingblock B for the cores, cores G, and gearing D S H R K fordrawing the machine along in the trench and rotating the cores. Thehauling-rope E is attached ahead of the machine to a stake in thetrench. It is brought down to the machine, passed through the hole F,

thence around the sheave G to drum H. This drum is turned by the wormand wheel K, operated in the usual way. The bottom plate of the machineJ fits the bottom of the trench. It extends back to apoint about midwayof the bearingblock l3 and forward to the point where it connects withthe floor-plate L, which dies into the front plate M. The sides of themachine extend out to the front between the bottom plate J and thefloor-plate L. From the wall M they go back to the partition N for thefull height and depth of the machine. From the partition N they taperoff atthe bottom and back plate 0, as shown. To the back plate 0 andside is attached a plate or trowel P. In the front end of the machineare at tached the cutting-bars Q. The cores for forming the passages inthe monolithic block are placed into the core-block B and are rotated bypower conveyed by chain belt from sprocket-wheel R to sprocket-wheel S,which, with its gear S, is on a stud T. This gear engages four othergears U, these being upon studs V, each of which also carries anothergear WV, that engages with the gears, one of which is on the end of eachcore.

The process and operation of the machine are as follows: Power beingapplied, the machine is moved forward by Winding the rope upon the drum,and at the same time, by means of the gearing, the cores are rotated. Asthe machine moves along the trench, the bottom of which has been gradedto the required level, the sides of the trench are trimmed to the rightwid th by the cutting-bars Q, or in case of hard or rocky ground theyare trimmed by hand, the cutting-bars Q acting then principally asguides. Concrete is fed to the cores through the hopper Y and is packeddown between them in the usual way or as hereinafter described. As themold moves alonga continuous multiperforated monolithic structure isbeing deposited behind it, the bottom and sides of which are bounded bythe bottom and sides of the excavation, while the top is determined andformed by the trowel or plate P, the passages therein being formed bythe rotating cores. These cores all rotate in the same direction, andtherefore the adjacent core-surfaces move in opposite directions. Theobject of this arrangement is to neutralize the triotional displacementeffect of each core with its surrounding material by the contrarymovement of adjacent cores, asillustrated in Fig. 11. By preference,also, each horizontal row of cores is made longer than the rowimmediately above it. Spiral wings or other projections may be added toone or more of such cores, as shown in Fig. 8, for the purpose ofassisting in the consolidation of the concrete, or for a similar purposethe cores may be recessed, as shown in Fig. 10.

In all such machines great difficulty is experienced from the cement ofthe concrete working into the bearings of the cores and preventing themfrom turning freely. To overcome this, Iplace in the rear of thebearing-block B a screen Z, which for convenience is an extension ofthepartition N. This screen prevents nearly if not all cement from enteringthe bearing-block B, for such cement as passes along the cores throughthe partition falls down the forward side thereof and passes out at thebottom as the machine moves forward, and, the screen being made of thiniron, but little friction is occasioned against the cores. As anadditional precaution the bearing Bis also, by preference, made hollowand with its rear end cut away at B to provide a means of exit for anycement that might by chance work into the block alongside of the cores.

I do notlimit this invention to the particulararrangement of gears asshown. Sprocketwheels or any other suitable gearing might be used.

hVhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The method of forming multiperforated monolithic subway structures,which consists in packing concrete into the spaces between a group ofcores, in giving said cores a rotary movement the quality of which isthat adjacent core surfaces move in opposite direction and insimultaneously with such rotary movement causing the said cores toadvance axially along the trench in which the monolithic structure isbeing formed.

2. In a continuous subway molding machine agroup of rotating cores thecommon rear end of which slopes downward.

3. In combination with a group of rotating cores and core support, theauxiliary guard plate N, substantially as described.

4. In combination with a group of rotating cores the core block B,having an outlet under its rear end substantially as described.

5. In a molding machine the recessed rotating core 0, Fig. 10,substantially as described.

ERNEST LESLIE RANSOME. Witnesses:

STEPHEN T. MATHER, THOS. THORKILDSEN.

